The positive: I learned how to deal with failure and rejection. Just learning my art and making a lot of mistakes along the way however, the light finally came on and I "got it". Clients were soon requesting me...my application time became more efficient. I was becoming more confident with my skill as a nail tech.
Someone else there, was beginning to learn her skill too. When I first saw her (I vividly remember this), she was sitting at her station filing her nails, something she was found doing often, at idle times, through out the whole time I knew her. She had long, strawberry-blond hair and was wearing a button-down flannel shirt, ya know the ones with the quilting inside? May I introduce to you, Kimberly Dawn.
She totally had attitude, in fact we did not like each other, at first. I was more the gangsta rap chick and she was more the Metallica, Harley-ridin girl...two completely opposite individuals...why would we like each other? She thought I had an attitude too, lol.
Turns out that was just our defenses lockin in or our guard goin up...ah, we have something in common. Another positive thing that came out of that first job was our friendship.
A year later, my mom and I opened our own Tan & Nail Salon. I asked her if she would like to work with me again, there. To my delight, she accepted. How cool is it that you get to work with your best friend! In my life, best friends have came and went but ours always remained.
Kim and I did a lot of stuff you can imagine that two, young, single girls would do. We smoked, drank, experimented with some drugs, had loser boyfriends that we couldn't seem to shake, lol...except she eventually got wise and dumped him...I, on the other hand, married mine, smh.
I can thank her for that...well, kinda. She went to school with him and one day we went to one of her parties and there he was...and that was it! Although she warned me plenty of times "not to go there"...I failed to listen...a pattern in my life, it seems, lol.
We shared a passion for buttered noodles...waaaaay before Noodles & Co invented it. She loved Barney...that's right, the purple dinosaur. We used to always tease her about that. I once got her a Barney ice cream cake for her birthday. It came with a little Barney figurine, which she adorned her nail station with. Then one day, I played a cruel trick on her and took Barney and hung him from her table light, as if he committed suicide, lmao! She was not happy... Really you had to be there, it was funny at the time!
I'll never forget our Vegas trip in '99...I was OBSESSED with the band, Sugar Ray at the time and I was determined to see them live (serious crush on lead singer...can anyone say, Mark McGrath)? I found out that they were going to perform in Vegas so I made some cheap arrangements and asked if she wanted to go...I would've went by myself, no joke... to my delight, Kim accepted my invitation!
We were there for two days and man...they were jam, packed, 24 hour fun! Danced the night away at Studio 54 one night, saw the concert the next. Managed NOT to gamble the whole time we were there....well, except at the end. Our flight was leaving out at around 1pm. Kim gets up in the morning and insists she's going to the casino to gamble, I declined and slept some more in our room. She comes back 2 hours later with $1500 in her hand...lucky B@#tch!!!
That's it...I'm going! So we decided to pack our things and be ready to leave for the airport but before leaving, we both went down to the casino lobby and played what I knew best, poker...and guess what? Yeah, I won too!!! Not as much as she did, more like $800 but when you're on your way out of Vegas, that is a HUGE accomplishment! So, Kim treated us to a limo, not taxi, ride to the airport and off we were back to Chicago...good times.
My family had bonded with hers (moms, aunts and uncles), both loved riding Harleys and checking out bands at the local bars. I got to know her dad (her parents were divorced) by the many visits to her house (she and her only other sibling lived with their dad)... and her mother. I can see where Kimmie got her tough side from. Donna was a good woman that had dealt with a lot of tragedy in her lifetime. You can see the pain in her face but her eyes twinkled with love and affection for her son and daughter, nieces and nephews!
We were super-tight for the first 6 years of our friendship but then she quit her post at the salon and began to work in the "office". She was forever in school...she was younger than me (by 5 mos) but graduated a whole year earlier...can you say "over-achiever"? lol
Anyways, she was always studying criminal justice and wanted to work in something field-related to that. I mean, the girl was always in school (did I say that already)? We joked that she'd never be done.
Well, in 2000 I was having my first child. At this point, she had been dating the guy she eventually married. It was around this time that our lives were going in different paths and we didn't see each other as often as in the past.
We always kept in touch though, time-to-time, meeting up at the local bar. We went to her wedding (I think it was in '02) and unfortunately she had just suffered the lose of her beloved father right before the wedding. It devastated her. But she was tough, she put on her happy face and pressed forward.
Soon I was learning of her move to Florida. Her mom had already made the transition there. We kept in touch still, always trying to hook up when she came back in town but her visits were brief, usually family related and I did not fit into the schedule. No hard feelings though, I totally understood.
The last time I spoke to her was in early '06...I had just divorced my husband and was giving her the latest on that situation and she updated me with news of becoming a mom for the first time. She was excited and she sounded peaceful and content.
We lost each other's numbers and had no further contact. A couple of years ago, my spirit was telling me of a close friend who was hurt or worse, dead. I actually thought the friend that was "in trouble" was a child-hood friend of mine from my elementary years. I ended up finding Lisa and she was perfectly healthy and happy. But I still had a need to find Kim. I tried periodically but was unsuccessful.
In Illinois, licensed professionals can look up license status', so one day I did and it showed that her nail tech license was "NOT RENEWED". Now, I know she lived in Florida, why would she need to keep her IL license? Well anyone in our industry knows that it would not be wise to let your license expire, no matter where you lived. It doesn't take much to keep it active. This information disheartened me but I chucked it off as, "well maybe she wasn't interested in keep it after all".
Every so often, I would search her name on Facebook, but nothing. I forgot what her married name was, maybe she's listed only with that name? Then I remembered to search Donna, Kim's mom. I FOUND HER MOM! Her profile looked new and not updated often. Still, as privacy measures goes with Facebook, I was not her "friend" yet and wasn't able to view her complete profile. But wait! Her profile posted a comment she left on Kim's, husband's profile...that's it! I got her married name now, now I remember!
So I clicked on his profile, sent a message to him asking him to relay my contact info to Kim so that we could get in touch. This was done at around midnight. Not expecting a response til at least, the next day, I got one almost immediately! YES, FINALLY I CAN HOOK UP WITH MY LONG-LOST FRIEND!
Not quite. I had received the awful news that she had passed, losing her battle with breast cancer in July 2008. I WAS IN SHOCK!!!! How come I didn't know of this? I would've visited her, prayed for her...been able to say good bye. It broke my heart.
I just found this out a week ago.
I can't stop thinking about her, it's like a dream where you think for a moment that it is NOT a reality that she is actually gone.
I had so many questions. I had asked her husband a few, then I found Kim's cousin, whom she was very close to, on Facebook. I felt more comfortable asking her...ya know, a woman-to-woman kinda thing?
Anybody who knew Kim, knew her trademark was her beautiful, long hair. She would NEVER cut it but eventually did end up losing it due to her treatment of cancer. She was always fighter, never giving up until the very end. She had wigs made out of her natural hair but it was too hard for her to wear them. She wore other wigs instead.
I wanted to get into contact with Donna, Kim's mom, but found out that she took her daughter's death rather hard and gave up her will to live, peacefully on the last day of 2009.
My heart goes out to Harley, Kim's beautiful little girl, who won't ever know of her mom except for memories of her. Kim's husband who lost the love of his life and is now a single dad...and let me tell you how much that little girl looks like her mommy...apparently has her mommy's attitude too, lol. How bittersweet, to look at his daughter and see his wife in her everyday. And for Kim's brother, who lost his entire, immediate family - father, sister and mother- all too soon.
It is a tragedy and a curse...I pray the curse ends right now! The Moore/Czarnecki family has endured enough tragedy to last a lifetime...it's time to be re-born again and claim the everlasting life of victory against the enemy!
Help me pray for this family and for others suffering the same calamities within their families.
